I like using an IPA for the same reason that you add the herbs to the water or beer. All beer has its own herbal flavor: hops! An IPA has lots of hops, hence more flavor imparted to the meat. If you home brew you could probably get the same flavor by adding dry hops to water and baking.

What were you thinking, using the oven? Beer Can Chicken needs to be cooked on a gas grill with wood chips to create smoke. You can't do this indoors.

You need a gas grill because of the cooking time. With charcoal, you'll be adding coals partway through, which never works well. You need wood chips because half the flavor comes from smoke. I have a great rub, but without wood smoke, you've got nothin'.

Finally, I settled on Heineken because it's available in cans. Tried Budweiser a couple of times and found Heineken actually added discernible flavor (and the wife agreed).

Dude. This is so weak. You had them in the same oven with the steam present from both liquids. Figure out the rest.

Also, why don't you complain a couple more times about how you couldn't "brine" them. Dude, I might sugget you always brine your chickens in the future to avoid the emotional anguish. You'll be happier, live longer, and readers won't have to suffer your whining 'bout brining.

Also weak is your reluctance to pony up for a lousy 6-pack. What planet are you from? Be a man, drink a friggin' beer on a Saturday afternoon. You may find your confidence increasing, increased interest in girls in tight sweaters and your tolerance for unbrined chicken might even go up.

while the poultry pal is a nifty looking device (and kudos to the inventor) it's not gonna cut the mustard, so to speak. the holes are just too small for what you're trying to accomplish. and an oven is just the wrong environment for this.
my very first time doing this i was using an old barrel grill and half a bag of mesquite charcoal, with the coals moved to the sides, and a really cheap can & chicken holder from the local walmart. the skin was rubbed similar to the above recipe, but i didn't use beer i used a margarita flavored wine cooler and added some sangria so the can was only half to three quarters full.
to ensure that the steam stayed in the bird i also pulled the skin flap left at the neck over the hole after putting a half lime in it and used a toothpick to hold it closed (couldn't find my poultry string left from turkey day)
and i didn't remove the aluminum lip on the can i just made the opening alot wider by making 2 cuts in the can top and bending them in with pliers. the bird just slid right on and then i set it in the middle of the grill rack and left it for 3 hours, turning it every 30-40 minutes to ensure even cooking. and when we took it off the grill we let it set for a good 10-15 minutes
the results were fantastic - the skin dried into an extremely flavorable seal and held in all the moisture, the neck being sealed helped that considerably, and the flavor from the liquid in the can absolutley complimented the flavor of the chicken without overpowering it.
since then we have experimented with other flavored wine coolers, juices, etc. and have had to buy a steel double can/chicken holder because our friends beg us to make more.

I'd like to see this experiment done again either using a more flavorful beer (or perhaps wine, coke, sprite etc; all of which can be used for this method.

Although some have complained about your using an oven and it not smoking the chickens, I don't see why a grill is necessary for this experiment since both chickens were treated the same way.

It is possible that the steam from the beer chicken partially flavored the plain chicken since they were both in the same oven. Maybe a way to remedy this issue is to cook them separately then refrigerate samples of both chickens. That way they could be tested at the same temperature even though they were cooked at different times.

Anyway, I'm cooking a beer can chicken in my oven right now. It's actually an empty coke can filled partially with cheap red wine, garlic powder, and cilantro. I found this site when searching for cooking times because I had forgotten how long it take in the oven.

I might have to try running this experiement on my own sometime to see if usuing a more flavorful liquid affects it.

The alcohol in beer tends to break down the proteins in the meat, since chicken is not normally tough it makes the meat softer. A dark or stronger beer I suspect would work better for all meats especially in a marinade. I'm going to experiment next weekend with some spices and strong beer.

How does this beer boil to create steam? 212 is the boiling point and your bird cooks to 170-180 and in the last ten minutes of cooking rises to that temp how does that steam penetrate the membrane in the cavity? pull some breast meat down to the 1/8 inch thick cartilage you think the little evaporation you got from the beer mist in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking penetrated that? and since the can is 3/4s of the way up the birds butt maybe a 1/4 of the top of the bird saw a little steam so it flavored the whole bird?
doesn't take a rocket scientist to observe that

How does this beer boil to create steam? 212 is the boiling point and your bird cooks to 170-180 and in the last ten minutes of cooking rises to that temp how does that steam penetrate the membrane in the cavity? pull some breast meat down to the 1/8 inch thick cartilage you think the little evaporation you got from the beer mist in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking penetrated that? and since the can is 3/4s of the way up the birds butt maybe a 1/4 of the top of the bird saw a little steam so it flavored the whole bird?
doesn't take a rocket scientist to observe that

The beer isn't at the same temperature as the chicken. The oven and the beer and the chicken are all at different temperatures throughout the cooking processes. Also, remember that something doesn't need to boil for it to produce steam - the boiling point of water is the maximum temperature at which water can stay in liquid form, but water evaporates at lower temperatures (simmering as well as even lower temperatures) but not as vigorously. The beer reaches a temperature where steam is produced quickly in comparison to the slowly heating chicken.

Thank you so much for all the time and effort that you put into this site. I absolutely love the recipes I've tried thus far. I'm proud to say that I'm from the Biggest Beer-guzzling country on the planet, and I can't understand how everyone could have overlooked the obvious best beverage source - If you're in the USA, then just go north, eh?

The problem here is definitely the use of Budweiser; a beer whose mass appeal can only be down to it's lack of taste. An good alternative would be Guinness but as others have pointed out, it can leave quite a bitter taste. The best beer, in my opinion, would an ale (a traditional British beer). I don't know how familiar Americans are with British beer (what you would call beer is a lager to us Brits), but it is somewhere between a stout and lager. It varies greatly in strength, colour and taste, not very fizzy and is and is usually served near room temperature to allow the subtle flavours to come through, much like a red wine. It's used extensively as an ingredient in English cuisine and will give a rich beer taste, without the potential burnt taste of stout. As a drink, many people used to drinking lager (or American beer!) find it unappealing, but it's use as an ingredient can't be faulted. I've never come across a recipe using a lager before and I always presumed this was because it could not impart any flavour.

I routinely make beer can chicken and I like to use a German pilsner beer. I use a natural gas BBQ. The chicken on the stand along with the beer can sit in a foil pie plate so that the drippings can be collected to make gravy.
I always use indirect heat, ie. the two outside burners are at high heat, and the two burners directly under the bird are off. I BBQ with the lid down, and monitor the temperature of the chicken with a digital thermometer.
The chicken is rubbed prior to cooking with a Montreal style dry seasoning.